The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1887-03-04
NEGROES PLAYING THE MAN.
They are Not Idling or Dying Out in
the South-Prof Prices Lecture.

the South-Prof Prices Lecture.
Chckcring Hall was flied yesterday
afternoon, therebeing hardlyayacantseat
left by an audience ofladies and gentle
men who had come to hear Prof ] c.
Price speak about the negroes Of the
South, their moral conditions and pros
poets. The meeting was held under
the auspices Of the National Temper
ance Society. Prof Price is colored
man himself, the son Of a former slave
and a protege Of the late VIM. z.
Dodge of this city. He is an instruc-
tor in Zion Wesleyan Institute, North
Carolina, and has been conspicuous
for his labors among the colored peo-
pie Of the South both as a teacher and
a missionary
"Some are Respondent" he said,
"about the future of the negroes, and
think the prospect is gloomy before
them. In this l cannot agree. ! am
sanguine. / believe there is future,
and a great future, ahead Of the color
cd men. If we can assure ourselves
that the negro has the same element Of
success which the more favored race
that inhabils the continent possesses,
we need not despair of his future. 1t
is the mind power, the power Of intel
lect which has made this grand coun.
try what it is Has the negro that
power
"Some years ago man wrote a book
to prove that the negro has no soul. II
that man had that book now to write ]
don't think, in view Of the progress the
negro has made. that he would write
1 it. | believe the American people arc
beginning to believe that the negro has
the intellectual power. OF course there
are many people who cling to the ole
skeptcism, and who still have nofaith il
the negro; but their numbers are grow
ing smaller. 1t remains for the negro
himself 10 increase this faith in his in
teligence and in his manhood lie
must not ask this and ask that because
he is a negro. He must ask il because
he is man. He must not ask fol
things because he is an ex.slave; HI
must ask because he is man. If HI
is driven to explanations he may sa,
that it is because he is an unfortunate
man. He must meet problems and h,
must answer questions, and he mus
meet them as a man and answer then
+ like man, or 30 to the wall like
= man.
l. at is said the negro is not indus
trious. j do not believe it. A mai
s who had seen the negroes ofthe Soutl
!: after the war told me that they wer'
lazy and were doing nothing. The,
!. were not lazy; they we're only taking
. breathing spell. They had worked 70
24o years for scanty food and scantie
raiment, and they were just taking
!, rest They saw that the white maj
was free and that the white man di,
not work, and they naturally assoc
ated freedom with ideness; the
!, thought that freedom meant rest Blu
I they soon got over that, and the grea
i wealth Of the South, which they hay
: piled up with their own hands, is a
u eternal monument to their industry
Il In the State of Georgia alone, accorC
ing to the report of the Comptrolle
o negroes are paying taxes on $4,000, ooc
They did not inherit this property froI
It their rich ancestors. They didn't hay
any They accumulated it themselve
That does not look like Incidence.
"rhey say, too, that the negro popl
ation is dying out. Statistics sho
D that the negro population doubles ever
;, twenty years; that there are 500 MOI
|. negro babies born every day than di
/, That does not look like dying OH
They have tried to ship us to AfriC
e and they have tried to send us to tt
e West But we do not so, and we d
e not die out. We remain where we wei
n born and raised, and where, as | b.
4 lieve, the negro has a great mission
,e perform, which, with the will OF Co
n he will perform"
e Prof Price was frequently Interrupt
q ed with applause. He is a large, POI
r ly man, nearly six feet in height, ar
Q. is nearly coal black. New York Su
a. -. ~ to..or